Mark Townsend has stepped down as executive director of the Portland Hotel Society. The Portland Hotel Society has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable expenses for vacations, limos and overseas trips, with little financial oversight, poor documentation and a host of other financial irregularities, government auditors announced Thursday.wayne leidenfrost
/ Vancouver Sun

Minister Rich Coleman told reporters an independent audit of Portland Hotel Society’s accounting found red flags and said receivership is an option for the non-profit society. The Portland Hotel Society has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable expenses for vacations, limos and overseas trips, with little financial oversight, poor documentation and a host of other financial irregularities, government auditors announced Thursday.Gerry Kahrmann
/ PNG

VICTORIA — New Democrat MLA Jenny Kwan and her family received a $2,695 trip to Disneyland — as well as a second trip to Europe — paid for by the Vancouver charity at the centre of a scathing government audit Thursday.

The Disneyland trip was one of many questionable expenses by the Portland Hotel Society highlighted by government auditors, which forced the resignation of the society’s senior managers and its board of directors.

Among those dismissed was Dan Small, Kwan’s ex-husband, who was the society’s director of policy research and funding development since 1998.

Kwan, Small and two children took the trip to Disneyland in May 2012, as well as a second trip believed to be in Europe that same year.

Kwan did not respond to an interview request.

However, in a statement, the MLA for Vancouver Mount Pleasant said she was “concerned” to see the expenses released Thursday in government audits.

“Together with my family, I did join my husband — who was an employee of PHA — on two trips in 2012,” she said.

“I was assured at the time by my former partner that he paid out of his pocket for the family-portion of the travel expenses.

“I never would have gone had I known that the family portion of the travel would appear to have been be paid for by PHS.

“I trust that my former partner will address the findings and take appropriate action to ensure that the PHS is reimbursed for any expenses related to family travel.

“And if he doesn’t, then I will.”

Kwan and Small separated last year.

Government auditors said the Disney stay included a hotel room at the Disney hotel in Anaheim, which was upgraded to accommodate a staff member in poor health. Small has a heart condition.

Townsend said the trip was a way to show appreciation for Small’s hard work because the society doesn’t offer benefits like long-term disability.

“For us, this was something we were doing for a staff person in lieu of overtime and health benefits,” said Townsend.

“I don’t want to go into the individual details of all these things, but it fits into the fact we do not have long-term disability.”

Kwan has been the MLA for Vancouver Mount Pleasant since 1996 and has had close ties to the Portland Hotel Society as well as several of its current and former employees.

The government audit highlighted the Disneyland trip, as well as other trips to the United Kingdom and Austria, as questionable expenses, and said there were no financial controls in place to ensure the travel was for legitimate business reasons.

An audit by Vancouver Coastal Health, which provides PHS $8.3 million a year for funding programs and services, noted the “seeming lack of regard for adequate controls to ensure funds are spent in an economical and efficient manner are concerning.”

The society received $28.6 million in money from government sources in 2013.

However, it’s unclear if the taxpayers paid for Kwan’s trip.

Former PHS executive director Marc Townsend argued “the majority” of trips mentioned in the audit would be paid for using “private and non-government funding.”

But the health authority audit pointed to a “lack of clarity over administrative expenses” and said it’s difficult to know what expenses were paid using what money because funding was pooled and spent, in many cases without proper documentation.

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New Democrat MLA Jenny Kwan under fire for $2,695 trip paid for by the Portland Hotel Society

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